On Fri, Nov 21 1997 19:28 GMT Charles Briscoe-Smith writes: > In article <19971114234654.05397@flora>, > Marcus Brinkmann <Marcus.Brinkmann@ruhr-uni-bochum.de> wrote: > >Please look in your /usr/lib/emacs/*/etc/ directory. There is a file named > >WHY-FREE in it. It says: > > > >"This is why we say that free software is a matter of freedom, not > >price." > [...] > I'll explain why I think it's misleading. When you use a term "free > <something>", the "free" can refer to freedom or price. If the > <something> is concrete (beer, TV set, meal), "free" tends to refer > to price. If the <something> is abstract (speech, verse, market), > "free" means freedom. I think this is a problem of the English language (correct me if I'm wrong, I'm not a native English speaker/writer): German/French/Spanish (maybe even Russian, Vadik?, I wasn't able to check that) has two adverbs: free in the sense of `freedom' and in the sense of `without fee' but tendenciously in the sense of `freedom' and `gratis/gratuite/...' with only one sense: `without price'. So if you want to advertise something you say 'xxxx gratis included' (as in free beer) and if you want to emphasize freedom you say 'you are free to collect signatures'... Just my 2e-4 CHF. David
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